Part 3
After what felt like several hours, they had arrived. It was a secluded area of Hell, far from the damned, in the peaceful section. Xellma wondered who had prepared the farmhouse in advance, but at the same time, she figured she could guess.
"Sirene, Gallus, Vesuvia, welcome home." Xellma said, gesturing at the house. "Here, you have all eternity to do whatever it is you wish. In Hell, there is no reality, only unreality, so if you need something, you need only think of it."
"What's that mean?" Gallus asked, in Sirene's ancient long forgotten language.
Xellma was quite glad she understood all languages now, and smiled. "Try it yourself. Picture a pitchfork in your mind, or a knife, or even just an apple, freshly picked off the tree."
Gallus nodded, and closed his eyes. In an instant, an orange appeared in his hands, and his eyes bolted open, amazed. Xellma loved to see the first reactions of how Hell worked every time.
"There are other souls nearby, so you certainly won't be lonely, but your daughter is very popular with both the demons and the mortals, so I suspect you won't be lacking company for a very long time indeed." Xellma explained as they walked up the road to the farmhouse. "The demon wait list to speak with Sirene is already hundreds of thousands of years long. Some are quite jealous of the line demons."
"Hundreds of thousands of years?" Gallus asked. Xellma nodded. "Just how many demons are there?"
"More than you'd expect, but not as many as you'd think. After all, torture is not eternal, eventually the sentence is served and they are free." Xellma answered, looking around. Is this what Southern Karand really looked like all those years ago? She was surprised that Vordea changed even the demonic perception of this part of Hell.
Sirene said nothing as she walked hand in hand with her mother, nothing else mattered right now. Xellma was intrigued to see this side of Sirene, as the Sirene she and most people knew was aggressive, outspoken, brash, and sarcastic, to name a few things. But this Sirene? She wasn't just quiet, she was nearly silent. It was like a window to the past, of the iron age farm girl Sirene used to be.
"Miss Xellma, I do have one request." Gallus said as they neared the house.
"Yes, Gallus?"
"Could you pass on our thanks to the Innkeeper, from me and Vesuvia? For helping our little girl in the long lonely centuries."
"So you were there the whole time." Xellma stated. Of course.
"For 850 years he gave her somewhere to stay every winter, and never once charged her a single denarius. He treated her like his own daughter, and for that I am forever grateful." Gallus said.
"Of course, I will pass it on. I'll come check in on you in a few years, once you've settled in."